Tooth fairy defies credit crunch

on 26 June 2008

Parents are set to pay out £23\.4 million this year on ‘tooth fairy’ payouts despite the bite of the credit crunch.

With food and fuel prices soaring, research by the Children’s Mutual show the average tooth earns a child £1.22 – a rise of 16% in the last year, 4.8 times higher than inflation.

In London, one in ten children receive £5 per tooth.

As an investment asset class, children are advised to hold on to their milk teeth for as long as possible as at the current rate next year a tooth will be worth £1.42, while in two years it will be worth £1.64.

Some financial advisors may even suggest that, given the existing economic uncertainties, the value of their assets to the tooth fairy may have peaked and it may be worth cashing in.

The shocking rise on tooth fairy inflation – outstripping even petrol prices – is in part put down to peer pressure among parents.

More than one in five (21%) think they pay too much and nearly one in six (16%) feel compelled to give their child the ‘market rate’ for a tooth.

However, David White, chief executive of The Children’s Mutual, is calling on parents to turn the tooth fairy into a savings fairy.

He said: ‘Parents may think that being the tooth fairy is an expensive business, but the tooth fairy can help them talk to their children about the value of money.

‘And for those parents determined to ‘stick to their gums’ and avoid fairy pressure, perhaps they can persuade their children to consider saving their tooth money and get into good money habits from an early age.’